This invention relates to an improved tee device for supporting a football in kicking position.
During each `kick-off` in a football game, the ball is supported on a portable tee device which is temporarily placed at the proper location on the playing surface, and is constructed to hold the ball at a proper inclination to be effectively place-kicked toward the opposite goal line. A similar tee may be employed for holding the ball when kicking a field goal or point after touchdown. Structurally, a tee used for any of these purposes may be shaped to have an upwardly concave configuration, or its equivalent, adapted to receive and position a lower portion of the ball while leaving the main body of the ball accessible for kicking and free for movement off of the tee when kicked. Various different designs of tee have been proposed in the past in attempting to improve the functional characteristics of the tee, and some of these prior arrangements have been covered by patents, such as for example U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,087,726, 3,309,087, 3,481,602, 3,516,667 and 3,662,728.
One problem which is encountered in using conventional tees resides in their inability to effectively retain the ball in proper position on the tee under windy or gusting conditions. It frequently happens under such conditions that after both teams have lined up for a kick-off, and perhaps even after the kicker has commenced his approach toward the ball, a sudden gust of wind may blow the ball off of the tee, or change its position on the tee sufficiently to adversely affect the direction or distance that the ball is kicked. Even though the displacement may in some cases be relatively small and perhaps unnoticed, the slight dislocation of the ball from a desired precisely proper orientation with respect to the tee may result in a very poor kick and loss of yardage or points by the kicking team.